GATED LIVING IN THE CONTEXT OF KARACHI

Abstract

Housing in groups of people with political, ethnic and/or religious commonalities has been a traditional trend. With increase in population and city sizes a later development to this has been restricted access to housing areas and gated security in existing as well as new housing schemes. Today, the concept of gated communities is marketed as ideal housing projects by developers as well as government associations and well received by various communities and income groups in the city of Karachi. The paper gives an overview of the evolution toward gated living, identifying an evolving morphological typology of (community) housing from the premise of security. Based on the hypothesis that the physical urban form is a manifestation of the social grouping and organization, the two are described for each of the typology. The level of security and controlled access to these housing are also described. Later, the major reasons responsible for increase in gating are identified, marking an evolution in the social mindset. This developing trend of gated living is being supported by the market and the state through policies and planning. The conclusion sums up the social impact of increased physical gating on the city and its people, summing up the challenges for future city planning. The research methodology employed includes; review of international literature on gated communities, analysis of local city data such as; census data, crime reports and socio- economic profiles and interviews with urban planners and residents of housing schemes. The debate on gated communities in our context was triggered by research on existing housing projects undertaken by the 3rd year architecture students for the course 'Housing and Community Development' taught at the Department of Architecture and Planning, NED UET. Some of the case examples mentioned in the paper are also taken from these student works. The paper seeks to answer some of the following questions: What are the possible reasons for the rising trend of gated housing in the city of Karachi? What are the physical and social implications of gated housing on its context? If this trend continues, what would it imply for the future?